I hope so. They are rebuilding on D. There is no excuse this year for BB not to address the pass rush. DE and OLB are what is needed. A couple of players that opposition offenses must plan for and QB's look for all game. The teams in the superbowl have a few of these each.

Spetznaz24 writes: "If they (Pats' D)were that bad in 2010, how much can they improve in 2011? A top 10 defense might be 3-4 years away, at best."

If you rate the defense by points allowed, the Pats are already a top 10 D. In fact the Pats were 8th in points allowed.

Their numbers in terms of points scored, points allowed, and point differential were better than the 2009 Superbowl Champion Saints.

Saints in 2009 510 341 169

Patriots 2010 518 313 242

Admittedly, the Steelers and Packers have better defenses in terms of points allowed. They were number 1 (232) and number 2 (240) respectively. They also didn't play with big leads as much as the Pats either.

Theoretically, the defense will improve with Warren and Bodden coming back, but there is always someone on IR. Who will it be next year?

Without any new pieces, the D will improve as it matures, and of course we have the draft picks. If they were to spend 3 of the first 4 picks on defense, that would be great even though before this year, rookies haven't contributed much on BB's teams.

I don't claim to know why the Pats have laid eggs in the playoffs the last two years. People like to blame BB, Brady, the defense, lack of passion, the OC, Kraft for being cheap, this player or that player, or bad draft picks. All I know is that the Pats went 14-2, they are young and on the way up. A couple of more plays against the Jets and they win. BB has all offseason to figure out what went wrong and will try to correct it and I will be rooting for them next year: if there is football.

All of the teams mentioned in this post may have great defense but we beat them all this year. I agree missing out on Clay Matthews may have been a mistake. Only time will tell. Players like him are a rare find. The Ravens, Bears and supposedly the Jets are all suppose to have great defenses but I have not seen them in a SB recently.

We just have to admit... regardless of how well the team did in the regular season, we have now seen the team play poorly, as compared to its potential, two seasons in a row in the playoffs. Leading up to each of the playoff games versus the Ravens and Jets, did we think the team, especially the defense, would break down so badly and give up the points it did contrary to its regular season results? In this past season, late in the season, only two teams scored more than 20 points on the D, Colts and Packers, two teams with offenses and QBs that could do that. Then, to have Sanchez and the Jets put 28 on them? Simply poor play on the Ds part and the offense just didn't execute. The points were there for the taking, receivers dropping balls everywhere. That day, the Pats needed a D like the Packers and Steelers to pull them out and it failed.

IMO, the D made some great plays and missed on some plays badly. Overall I think they are close, everyone on here is consistent on we need a OLD and solid DE that can get after it. I am sure BB knows this too, he got some of the pieces of the puzzle last year and got us the best record in NFL, which means squat I know if we don't play Feb 6th. But we are close with the right 2-3 players I beleive.

Well, yes he can. It's coming. Give the rookies and second year guys another campaign and they are there. We do need more help on the Dline as well as a bona fide pass rushing OLB but it is coming into focus.

BTW, stats are for losers, its whether or not you win the games that matters. The PATS defense was good enough this year to assist in going 14 -2. Yes we lost our first play-off game again but a prerequisite for getting into the play-offs by winning your division, means you first have to go 14 -2 or something close to it. Don't put the cart before the horse or "throw your pearls before swine".

He is on his way Even this year look at 1st half vs 2nd half 2010I think we are close to having an elite set of DB's,a set of LB's that are getting better and are fast (except Spikes),and a DLine that was depleted - losing too many to injury

I do agree in that I want a few new real tough guyson the Dline and LB

I agree with the comment that once we get pressure on the QB eveybody will be even better.

The offense nees Oline infusion and another weapon

Getting enough talent is almost like a Rubix CubeWe will get there

We have to look at the last 2 yrs of Playoff lossesIts like we lost them at the beggining of the games.and we never looked right for the whole game

I think Bruschi's comments were right on.Will look forward to his comments this off season

lastlyThe new CBA will have a rookie cap,More games which means a larger squadAnd we have more picks tahn any oneWe don;t have alot of FA"s ? But we need Mankins!I think that the long term GM job was brilliant

I think the other AFC teams will declineRavens - Lewis and ReidSteelers - Palamalu - is going to be like Bob Sanders and the Steelres record with out him is abysmal.Colts - too many holes and Peyton geting up thereJets- they have 18 FA's and they do not have a Dline either

In Response to Re: Can Belichick build an elite defense? : I agree that the McCourty and Bodden should make a very good secondary. Wilfork is a stud too. The rest are simply not up to task. Meriweather is completely overrated. I dont know how he makes the pro-bowl every year. To have Meriweathers name mentioned with Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu at the pro-bowl is an insult to those two phenomenal players. What about our linebackers and defensive ends? Look at the LB's and DE's on the two teams in the SB. It is frightening to think how bad our players are compared to those in Pitt and GB. We can draft rookies all we want, but the chances are that they will not be able to contribute their first year. We had a chance at Clay Mathews and missed it. How good would he look in a NE uniform right now? Belichick needs to bring in a veteran linebacker or DE to make some plays and mentor the young players. At the pace that we are going, Brady will retire by the time we have a decent defense. Belichick needs to stop trading back and getting "good value". Clay Mathews would have brought the swagger that this defense desperately needs!Posted by Spetznaz24

You forget about Mayo who just lead the league with 194 tackles at linebacker this year. Spikes in going to be a monster and Ty Warren is comind back from injury also. Pat Chung showed potential of being a great play making safety. I agree with you on Meriweather as I think he's over rated . I'd like to see more of Paige.We've got a great draft shaping up (Cunningham showed good potential) A Few free agant signings a a good draft gets us back near a potentially excellent/great defense!) Patence!

Move up in the draft.....get DE Robert Quinn......Move up, get LB Von Miller.....if you take the draft pick values of the Pats first four picks, they could move up to tenth pick area twice. all the videos of Quinn i've seen, he just lives in the backfield. Von Miller??....speed speed speed. the argument against him is his size....6'3", 240 lbs.....LT was the same size.....Would you trade 4 picks for2 ???

Move up in the draft.....get DE Robert Quinn......Move up, get LB Von Miller.....if you take the draft pick values of the Pats first four picks, they could move up to tenth pick area twice. all the videos of Quinn i've seen, he just lives in the backfield. Von Miller??....speed speed speed. the argument against him is his size....6'3", 240 lbs.....LT was the same size.....Would you trade 4 picks for2 ???Posted by westga

Quinn is a beast, will have an instant impact...IE sac first game...he went around Castonzo this year like he was a statue, and I like Castonzo big time...

if not defense...like Anthony Castonzo from BC 6'7" 306...basically made Montel Harris who he is...

It was pretty good in turn overs also helping the pats have the best turnover ratio this year.

So to answer your question.

Yes, the defense right now is the youngest in the league, and gave up less points then almost everyone else. Throw in some young top tier pass rushers and instead of third down conversions you will get some third down sacks.